“While Sherlock is gone, he will pass on one or two of his less urgent assignments to his brother, Sigerson.”
There are seriously no words to describe how silly and totally hilarious The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother is. I bought this a few years ago and did not really think anything of it and only watched it that one time. I brought this to my grandma’s house tonight (we have movie nights every Monday while my grandpa plays cards) and we laughed so hard. Now that I have a better appreciation for Gene Wilder and get more of the humor I enjoyed the movie so much.
Sherlock Holmes cannot be directly involved in a case involving a singer. He sends the case over to his younger brother Sigerson Holmes (Gene Wilder). Sigerson has always lived in his brother’s shadow even though he is a very intelligent detective and person. Scotland Yard sends over a man named Sgt. Sackler (Marty Feldman) who has “photographic hearing.” The case is about blackmail against a young woman named Bessie Bellwood. The woman herself (Madeline Kahn) comes to Sigerson’s apartment and right away he sees right through her BS. He tells her if she wants to impersonate a famous music hall singer who has been dead for twelve years she better learn all her famous songs by heart. The woman’s real name is Jenny Hill.
As the case unfolds Jenny is involved in a plot against England and the stealing of an important document given to someone she knows from Queen Victoria. With a little help from his brother Sigerson cleverly solves the case.
Gene Wilder is a friggin genius. He wrote, directed, and starred in the movie. He plays Sigerson so perfectly and so subtly. Usually he plays his characters way too overdramatically but here he was perfect. Madeline Kahn was beyond hysterical and brilliant. There was one part where in order to get information out of Jenny Sigerson had to do sexual things to her and he fluffs up her boobs like a pillow!! The whole scene was amazing I had tears in my eyes. Of all the movies I have seen with Kahn this is my favorite of hers she was so entertaining and so funny. Marty Feldman will forever be Eyegore to me from Young Frankenstein. He was pretty much the straight man throughout the movie but of course he was the straight man with some oddities. Dom De Luise is in the movie as well. He plays an Italian opera singer who is in an opera with Jenny. De Luise is as always funny. The opera at the end and his performance in it is a panic.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother is one of the best comedies ever filmed. It is silly funny without going over the top. I found it so funny that while I was waiting for Madeline Kahn and Gene Wilder to come on the screen I forgot there was even an interesting murder mystery plot going on. If you are a fan of Gene Wilder and the comedy style of Mel Brooks you will be highly entertained. This a comedy worth watching over and over.
I am sure you have never seen Le sang d’un poète or The Blood of a Poet or even heard of it unless you like the Surrealist or know who Jean Cocteau or Lee Miller are. It is not a film you will find anywhere unless you are looking for it. There are many branches of Surrealism including many artists not just Salvador Dali and his melting paintings. The first time I watched this film I thought I had just smoked something it is so…. I do not want to say out there it is different from what we generally see as a film.
I do not even know where to begin to explain this film. First of all it is in French and unfortunately every copy I have been able to find online does not have subtitles unless it is just a short clip. I understand some of it and I recognize words but for the life of me cannot remember what they mean (I almost got a D in French a few semesters ago, thank God my professor was nice and she gave me a C-).
I do know that the film is broken down into four parts. The first part is my favorite because to me if you want to know what Surrealism is all about and what the members believe in this is the part. It is about an artist who has painted a woman when all the sudden the mouth comes to life and begins to move. The artist wipes away the mouth in shock but when he looks down at his hand the mouth has now gone to his hand. After experimenting with the mouth all night (the Surrealist had some sexual issues/things going on in their works so you can take a guess what “experiments” he did) he puts his hand on a statue he was working on.
Part two is the statue coming alive and speaking to him. She talks him into passing through a mirror that takes him into another place in time. The mirror transports him to a hotel- a hotel of “dramatic follies”- where he looks into the keyholes of several rooms. The first room shows shadows of someone smoking weed, the second shows a Mexican man getting shot by a firing squad over and over. The third room has some kind of kid who can climb walls while wearing sleigh bells. The fourth room shows a hermaphrodite. The fourth room was really interesting it is hard to explain how. Drums role and different sections of the person come up through holes in a chalkboard and the whole body is drawn. The artist is given a gun to shoot himself which he does but he does not die. He has enough of what he has seen and goes back to his world through the mirror. We do not see the actual man go through the mirror we see a wire cutout of him. When he gets back to his room he smashes the statue.
Part three shows boys having a violent snowball fight. Some boys run for cover and one even gets his knee cut. One unfortunate boy gets pelted with a chunk of marble and dies from being hit in the chest.
The final part shows the boy lying dead on the ground with a woman (the statue) and a card shark (the artist) playing a game on a table. While they play a game two groups of people sit in box seats of a theater watching them. The card shark takes an Ace of spades out of the boys pocket. The camera cuts to a doorway where an angel comes down the stairs. The angel is the boy’s guardian angel and absorbs the boy. The angel takes away the card from the card shark and the man realizing he now lost the game shoots himself. The spectators applaud after the man shoots himself. The woman then turns into the smashed statue and walks away. In the end she looks like a real statue with symbols of art around her.
Yeah, I know I know just explaining it to you sounds so friggin weird. And I am sure you are asking yourself how could anyone watch this. Let me just say I am not one of those stupid art majors who is a hipster and only likes modern art like dog shit on canvas that represents a soul in torture. I like art until 1960 and then Andy Warhol comes in and all the other weird hippy artists and art goes to shit. I adore old films and I have since learned a little more about Surrealism and the artists so I can honestly say I like this film for artistic and historic reasons and not look like a hipster idiot (are you getting the feeling that I hate hipsters?). There is a lot of meaning in art and in this film there is a ton of meaning.
I first found out about The Blood of a Poet when I read a biography on Lee Miller. I was in the gift shop of the Tate Modern last summer and I saw the cover with Miller’s picture on it and I was so taken with it. When I got back to my room that night I looked her up and a few days later I bought the book. Miller was originally from Poughkeepsie, NY. She moved to NYC where she was founded by Condé Nast (the man whose company owns Vanity Fair and Vogue) and she became a model and was most famously photographed by Edward Steichen. Later on she moved to Paris and became the lover of the famous Surrealist artist Man Ray. At the time she filmed The Blood of a Poet she and Ray were not getting along very and Ray was very upset that “his” muse was being used by another artist; he felt Miller and her body were his. Ray said “You don’t lend out your mistress, do you?” If you ever want to read a great biography read Lee Miller: A Life (or On Both Sides of the Camera if you live in the UK) by Carolyn Burke. Miller’s life was so fascinating and incredibly lived.
Cocteau said that The Blood of a Poet is not a Surrealist film because it did not exist at the time he made it. But he did use many of the motifs- chance, dreams, life and death- the Surrealists highly regarded. Looking at it today from an artistic and historical aspect it is one of the greatest cinematic works. Charlie Chaplin claimed that this film showed him that “the cinema could exist in Europe.” No matter how odd the film may be it really does hold your attention. I cannot turn the film off whenever I play it and I marvel at the film making. Cocteau pretty much stated that the film is like allegory of the things the mind can conjure when it is asleep, it is not about symbols and dreams but memories that move around and express themselves.
This must all sound like crazy artistic ramblings. I am sure you have very little understanding of the things I have written but to me it is genius. I will not lie when I say that Surrealism is a bit confusing especially because it has to do so much with psychology but the things that I can understand like their views of the world and their symbolism is so interesting.
Le sang d’un poète is considered Jean Cocteau’s best known and best made film. It deals with an artist’s obsession with creation and his views of the world in which he creates. Throughout the history of art artists have been driven mad by their creativeness and need to create perfection. This film is one of great artistic perfection and obsession both literally and figuratively. I can sit through The Blood of a Poet any time of day and be bewildered, confused, and shocked all the time.
“Poets . . . shed not only the red blood of their hearts but the white blood of their souls,”
I was watching a show the other night (anyone ever hear or watch the show Medical Investigation before it was canceled?) and one of the characters mentioned The Sting. My brother has had this movie on DVD for years and he was always telling me that the movie was so good. I decided to watch something different today so I picked out The Sting. I am a HUGE fan of the show Leverage and love stories about con men so I was very excited to see that the movie was about con men and their running a scheme to get even. As the promos for Leverage say “Don’t get mad, get even” and that is exactly what Johnny and Harry do.
Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) and his partner Luther are running a scheme on someone when the movie opens. After they get their money Luther tells Johnny that he wants out of what they do. Later on Luther is killed because the people they stole from tracked where their money went to when Johnny spent it all.
To get back at the mob boss Doyle Lonnegan Johnny goes to a veteran con man named Harry Gondorff (Paul Newman) who knew Luther as well. Harry gathers all his regular conmen and they get to work scamming the mob boss. The boss does not go anywhere without his goons and he does not regularly gamble or bet. They catch him on a train where he likes to play a game of poker with men who have money. Harry manages to get in on the game and he wins by cheating. He had his girlfriend Billie (Eileen Brennan) steal Lonnegan’s wallet so he would have to do business with him. After the game Johnny goes to Lonnegan pretending to double cross Harry that he wants to get out on his own and needs the boss’s help to do so.
From there the conmen set up a warehouse to look like a horse betting lounge and Lonnegan buys the bait. Using a machine they get the finished races and tell Lonnegan which winning horse to bet for. The mob boss gets himself in pretty deep with the con and in the end loses a lot of money.
I really liked the movie. It was very clever and the story was excellent. The cast was great everyone was perfect in their roles. Paul Newman and Robert Redford were a great team. At fifty-three Newman was still incredibly handsome (those blue eyes of his were incredible!). he had one of the funniest lines in the movie: Harry pretends to go to the card game with Lonnegan drunk so he barges in the room where the game is and he apologizes by saying “Sorry I’m. I was taking a crap” haha (Yes, I am really a little kid when it comes to toilet humor. This cannot be helped I have three younger brothers).
There are many actors that you will recognize from all kinds of movies. The only person I felt that was miss cast was Eileen Brennan. She had a great attitude there was one scene in the movie that I would die to use if I ever made a movie or show but there is something about her I find unsettling and not that great.
Famed costume designer Edith Head won an Academy Award for her work. As always with Edith Head her costumes were stunning. The suits that the men wear were gorgeous.
The Sting is a fun movie to watch. The story keeps you on your toes and there are a lot of twists and turns. I will say there are some parts that drag a bit but other than those scenes The Sting is quite flawless and deserved to win for best picture, best direction, and best screenplay.
“It's not the meaning of life, Alfred, it's the feeling of life.”
Down to You is yet another movie I have seen over and over again and I cannot for the life of me remember how I first saw it. For the past eleven years (dear God I feel old!!) Down to You has been one of my all time favorite movies. I watched this the other night for the first time in years and all the love I have for it came back in full. To me it is not a typical romantic comedy/chick. It has a lot of feelings, a very good story, and one of the most important things that is highly lacking in the rom coms of recent years likeable characters.
The movie is told from the perspectives of Al (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Imogen (Julia Stiles) in a flashback. The two first meet at the start of their college semesters in NYC at a local dive bar. Al is a sophomore and Imogen is a freshman. It was love at first site. Their story leads the audience through special dates, first kisses, and pretty much their whole honeymoon phase. But once the first year comes up and they move to a new year in college their relationship starts to change. Imgoen feels like she is missing out on her youth and she sees Al as an old man.
Imogen leaves Al and heads to San Francisco to finish her school. Al is torn apart and his life is never the same without her. He flunks culinary school because he is so unhappy. He dates again but none of the girls can hold up to his first love.
His father is a famous chef who just got the go ahead for a new cooking reality TV show and decides to throw a party to celebrate. Imogen is in town on a business venture for the magazine she works at and goes to the party. She and Al have not seen each other for a few years. They walk around Central Park until the very early hours of the morning. They realize they still love each other.
At the end we see that Al and Imogen are living happily together in San Francisco.
There are a lot of funny and crazy things going on throughout the movie that I do not want to give away.
The cast is one of my favorites every character is quirky and funny and loveable. Zac Orth plays Monk one of Al’s friends who starts out as a porn star and becomes a well known actor. His other friend Eddie goes through phases trying to find his identity and spot in life. Selma Blair is Monk’s first costar named Cyrus. She likes Al because he is sweet and wants him to make pancakes for her. Rosario Dawson as a pot head is one of the funniest things ever. Ashton Kutcher has a small role as a guy named Jim Morrison who looks like the lead singer from The Doors. Henry Winckler plays Al’s father. All these people come together to make the story of Al and Imogen so much fun.
I know Down to You must sound like just another crappy rom com movie but trust me it is not. It is not mushy and romantic to the point where you want to throw something at the screen. I guess I have some really good memories watching this movie with my friends or by myself and just always really enjoying it. I wish chick flicks were made with such care and talent today like Down to You was eleven years ago, I might be able to handle them more if they were not so cheesy and gooey romantic and happy.
“Those who are destined to live during times of war and social upheaval are victims of cruel fate ~~ unable to find comfort in the past or peace in the present. They are the spiritual orphans of the world.”
Can I just say how much I hate it when a movie gets off to an interesting start and then one thing gets screwed up for the characters and the movie becomes boring and ridiculously long? What I really cannot stand is when a couple gets pulled apart because of miscommunication or another person… that drives me up a damn wall!!! Then one person in the couple becomes moody and mean and annoying and gives up hope of many things in several ways. This happened in the fourth season of CSI: NY with Danny and Lindsay and I wanted to scream!!! It is such an overused plot and it is so boring and frustrating (thankfully, Danny and Lindsay worked their crap out by the following season but mostly out of necessity). I was all psyched to watch Anthony Adverse because it stars a twenty year old Olivia de Havilland and I want to see some more films with Fredric March. The film started out so well for like the first forty-five – fifty minutes and then just went down the drain and my attention was lost.
It starts out with a man named Marquis Don Luis (Claude Rains) marrying a woman named Maria. Maria cheats on Don while his foot is healing with a man named Denis. Don finds out about the affair and takes his wife away. Denis finds them all at an inn but he dies in a sword fight with Don. A few months later at an inn in the Alps Maria has Denis’s baby but she unfortunately dies. The Don drops the baby off at a home for children where nuns will take care of him. Don tells Maria’s father, John Bonnyfeather, that his daughter died but lies that the baby died.
Ten years later, Anthony (as the boy is named) is handed over to Bonnyfeather as an apprentice. Neither boy nor man know they are related but John sees a shocking resemblance to his daughter in the boy. He cannot give Anthony his last name since his illegitimacy would ruin his business and family name. As Anthony grows up he comes to love the cook’s daughter Angela (Olivia de Havilland). He wants to eventually marry her but one night her father wins the lottery and the family moves away. She tells Anthony that one day they will find each other.
A few years on Anthony and a friend go to the opera and it happens that Angela is in the opera as one of the singers. They marry but the next day Anthony is held up while Angela is waiting to tell him what city to go to meet her. They do not meet again for five years.
In those five years Anthony has traveled all over the place. He travelled to Africa to work off debts for Bonnyfeather and he became a whole other person one who was greedy and nasty to people. Of course he gets a change of heart and moves back to Europe. He finds Angela again, along with their son, in Paris but she has changed: she is well known as Mademoiselle Georges a mistress of Napoleon’s. Anthony can no longer be with Angela and she knows that so she tells him to take their son with him on business- and a new life- to America.
Seriously, I just saved you two hours and fourteen minutes of your life by writing out most of the plot.
When Anthony goes on to Havana and then to Africa the film just gets so slow. Also slowing down the film and being a nuisance is Claude Rains as Don Luis and his evil girlfriend and former helper to Bonnyfeather , Faith. Ugh when those two came on screen I wanted to scream!! Faith was an annoying character from the start and Claude Rains was too fruity and flamboyant for me here.
Fredric March was very good I have no complaints about him or the character for that matter. Olivia de Havilland was beyond adorable. Right from the moment she comes on screen her character is very light splashing water on a bunch of little kids and she just had a big smile on her face. She was such a good actress even at twenty years old she just had immense talent.
Milo Anderson, who would two years later design the costumes for The Adventures of Robin Hood, designed the costumes for this film. I loved all his costumes for the women they were gorgeous. I love the Empire style from art to furniture to fashion. Olivia de Havilland looked amazing in all her costumes looking stunning in the Empire waist dresses and hairstyle. Even the men’s costumes were excellent even though I am not a fan of men’s fashion from that time period. After seeing his costumes in Robin Hood in brilliant color I was wondering what colors he made the costumes for this film and how nice they would have looked. (As well as studying Art History and classic films I love fashion history it can teach you so much about so many things).
Anthony Adverse is a pretty long dragged out film. The whole thing could have been cut down but I can see where cutting it would have disrupted the story and the flow. I guess in a way I watched it more for Olivia de Havilland and I was let down because her character was barely in it. I also felt let down with the ending after wanting Anthony and Angela to be together again after so many years apart and Angela turns out to be an infamous whore. If you want to see Anthony Adverse go ahead but I warn you you may become bored.
